1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus to be mounted on a moving body such as an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, a display unit such as a television set provided with a liquid crystal display panel is often accommodated in a vehicle as the moving body. This display unit displays information such as images received by the television set.
As an example of the display apparatus provided with the above described display unit 101, there has been proposed a display apparatus 102 attached to a ceiling 103 of an automobile as the moving body, as shown in FIG. 8. The display apparatus 102 illustrated in FIG. 8 includes the display unit 101 which can display the above mentioned information and adapted to be fitted to the ceiling 103 of a passengers"" room of the automobile at a wall face 103a facing with the passengers"" room.
The above described display unit 101 includes a display panel 104 which can display the above mentioned information and a casing 105 for containing this display panel 104. The casing 105 is formed in a rectangular shape. The display unit 101 is fitted to the wall face 103a so as to rotate around a rotation axis 106.
The rotation axis 106 is arranged along both the wall face 103a and a side of the casing 105. The rotation axis 106 is arranged on an/upper part of the display unit 101 in a lateral direction of the display unit 101.
According to the above described structure, the display apparatus 102 can provide the passengers with the information by rotating the display unit 101 around the rotation axis 106.
The above mentioned automobile as the moving body accommodates a plurality of seats on which the passengers can be seated. In the above described display apparatus 102, the display unit 101 for displaying the information is provided so as to rotate around only one rotation axis 106, and therefore, visibility of the display panel 104 varies according to positions of the seats.
For this reason, according to the positions of the seats, it has been difficult to visually observe the information displayed on the display panel 104 with reliability. It can be hardly said that the information can be surely supplied to all the passengers seated on a plurality of the seats.
In view of the above described drawback, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display apparatus which can avoid different visibility according to positions of the seats, when the display apparatus is provided in a moving body accommodating a plurality of the seats, and can reliably supply information to passengers seated on all the seats.
In order to solve the above described problem and attain the object, there is provided a display apparatus, according to a first aspect of the present invention, which comprises a rotary portion rotatably provided on a ceiling of a moving body, an arm portion supported by means of the rotary portion, and a display portion supported by means of the arm portion.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the arm portion is rotatably supported by means of the rotary portion.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the rotary portion is provided so as to rotate around a first rotation axis which extends in a direction intersecting the ceiling, and the arm portion is supported by means of the rotary portion so as to rotate around a second rotation axis which intersects the first rotation axis.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the display portion is rotatably supported by means of the arm portion.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, the display portion is provided on the arm portion so as to rotate around both a third rotation axis and a fourth rotation axis which intersect with each other.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, the rotary portion is provided so as to rotate around the first rotation axis which extends in a direction intersecting the ceiling, the arm portion is supported by means of the rotary portion so as to rotate around the second rotation axis intersecting the first rotation axis, the third rotation axis is arranged in parallel to the first rotation axis, and the fourth rotation axis is arranged in parallel to the second rotation axis.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, the display apparatus further comprises a plurality of recesses formed in a concave manner in a wail face of the ceiling of the moving body, the recesses being adapted to contain the arm portion.
According to an eighth aspect of the invention, the recesses are different in directions from one another and formed so as to radially extend from a mounting position of the rotary portion with respect to the ceiling.
According to a ninth aspect of the invention, the display apparatus comprises a second recess provided in at least one of a plurality of the recesses at a position remote from the mounting position of the rotary portion with respect to the ceiling, the second recess being adapted to contain the display portion.
According to the first aspect of the invention, the display portion is supported by means of the rotary portion by way of the arm portion. For this reason, as the rotary portion rotates with respect to the ceiling of the moving body, the display portion extensively moves in the moving body. In case where a plurality of seats are provided in the moving body, the rotary portion is rotated to move the display portion extensively, whereby the display portion can be substantially faced with the seats respectively.
According to the second aspect of the invention, the arm portion is rotatably supported with respect to the rotary portion, and the display portion can extensively move in the moving body more reliably.
According to the third aspect of the invention, the rotary portion is rotatable around the first rotation axis which intersects the ceiling, and the arm portion is rotatable around the second rotation axis which intersects the first rotation axis. Accordingly, the display portion can extensively move in the moving body more reliably.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, since the display portion is rotatably supported by means of the arm portion, the display portion can extensively move in the moving body more reliably.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the display portion is rotatably supported by means of the arm portion so as to rotate around both the third rotation axis and the fourth rotation axis, the display portion can extensively move in the moving body, and at the same time, the display portion can be more reliably faced with the seats respectively.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the third rotation axis is arranged in parallel to the first rotation axis, the display portion can extensively move in the moving body, and at the same time, the display portion can be more reliably faced with the seats respectively.
Moreover, since the fourth rotation axis is arranged in parallel to the second rotation axis, the display portion can be displaced from a position along the ceiling to a position where the display portion is faced with the passengers seated on the seats.
According to the seventh aspect of the display apparatus of the invention, since the recesses formed in a concave manner in the wall face of the ceiling contain the arm portion, the mounting space can be saved.
According to the eighth aspect of the display apparatus of the invention, since a plurality of the recesses extend in a radial direction from the mounting position of the rotary portion with respect to the ceiling, the respective recesses contain the arm portion saving the mounting space, and in addition, the display portion can extensively move in the moving body more reliably, and at the same time, the display portion can be more reliably faced with the seats respectively.
According to the ninth aspect of the invention, since the second recess can contain the display portion, the second recess will contain the display portion while the display apparatus in not in use, and the mounting space of the display apparatus can be saved.